pretzelattack @200 wrote: “Naw, East Jerusalem and (precision railroad scheduling)…”
Its known as East Palestine.
Precision railroad scheduling is beyond stupid when they abandoned precision in railroads 70 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X2A2f6E5DI

Posted by: jinn | Mar 27 2023 23:02 utc | 203

Fox News woke up one day in March 2023 and discovered BRICS was a thing.
They noticed some countries “our enemies, like China” are using currency other than USD for trade. What does it mean? Let’s do a segment for our viewers:
Watch the host’s eyes roll around in his head as it’s all explained to him in simple sound bites.
He wants to over-speak and interject, because that’s what interviewers and hosts are there for…. To interrupt their guests as soon as they start speaking; so he very much wants to shut her down, but his brain can’t form a sentence.….
He’s never heard anything like this in his life….
And if he closes out the segment, he might never have to heard such things again….
https://twitter.com/HumbleBitcoiner/status/1640178410746966016

Posted by: Melaleuca | Mar 27 2023 23:09 utc | 205

pretzelattack | Mar 27 2023 22:13 utc | 194
“Female”…… mass shooter. ….
About as “female” as the “woman” who was crying on TikTok because the TSA hit her testicles.
No. I’m not jesting this was yesterday.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Mar 27 2023 23:12 utc | 207

you’re right
“Gunman Audrey Hale, who police said identified as transgender, shot dead three children and three adults when she stormed into The Covenant School armed with two assault-style rifles and a pistol.”

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 27 2023 23:17 utc | 209

pretzelattack | Mar 27 2023 23:14 utc | 208
Welcome to 2023 … men can have babies and women have testicles.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Mar 27 2023 23:39 utc | 211

i guess gunman is abusive language or something.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 28 2023 0:04 utc | 213

From Reuters

JOHANNESBURG, March 28 (Reuters) – China spent $240 billion bailing out 22 developing countries between 2008 and 2021, with the amount soaring in recent years as more have struggled to repay loans spent building “Belt & Road” infrastructure, according to a study published Tuesday.
Almost 80% of the rescue lending was made between 2016 and 2021, mainly to middle-income countries including Argentina, Mongolia and Pakistan, according to the report by researchers from the World Bank, Harvard Kennedy School, AidData and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
China has lent hundreds of billions of dollars to build infrastructure in developing countries, but lending has tailed off since 2016 as many projects have failed to pay the expected financial dividends.
“Beijing is ultimately trying to rescue its own banks. That’s why it has gotten into the risky business of international bailout lending,” said Carmen Reinhart, a former World Bank chief economist and one of the study’s authors.
Chinese loans to countries in debt distress soared from less than 5% of its overseas lending portfolio in 2010 to 60% in 2022, the study found.
Argentina received the most, with $111.8 billion, followed Pakistan on $48.5 billion and Egypt with $15.6 billion. Nine countries received less than $1 billion.
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) swap lines accounted for $170 billion of the rescue financing, including in Suriname, Sri Lanka and Egypt. Bridge loans or balance of payments support by Chinese state-owned banks was $70 billion. Rollovers of both kinds of loan were $140 billion.
The study was critical of some central banks potentially using the PBOC swap lines to artifically pump up their foreign exchange reserve figures.
China’s rescue lending is “opaque and uncoordinated,” said Brad Parks, one of the report’s authors, and director of AidData, a research lab at William & Mary College in the United States.
The bailout loans are mainly concentrated in the middle income countries that make up four-fifths of its lending, due to the risk they pose to Chinese banks’ balance sheets, whereas low income countries are offered grace periods and maturity extensions, the report said.
China is negotiating debt restructurings with countries including Zambia, Ghana and Sri Lanka and has been criticised for holding up the processes. In response, it has called on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to also offer debt relief.

Read the last sentence again

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 28 2023 0:29 utc | 215

Posted by: David Levin | Mar 27 2023 16:57 utc | 178
Posted by: Tom_12 | Mar 27 2023 17:32 utc | 181
Yes, the notion of a humanitarian US military presence in Philippines would be hilarious if it were not tragic. But it’s just another episode in a long and tragic history.
There is a monument on the waterfront at Subic Bay commemorating the heroic eviction by the Philippine parliament of the remaining US presence at Clark and Subic thirty years ago, after the eruption of Pinatubo in 1991 had begun the work. But it all began with the assassination of Magellan 500 years ago, and the Spanish came back under Legazpi a few decades later to begin an occupation of a few centuries which left the Philippines with Roman Catholic god-worship and all that entailed. The Yanks came to evict them at the end of the 1800s, and forgot to leave. They cleared the Japanese out in 1945 and remained as outlined already. And now it looks like they will be back in force yet again.
If you visit the Philippines today you will be struck by the widespread abject poverty. It’s hard to accept that in the 1960s its wealth was (as I read somewhere) second in east Asia only to Japan, but what happened after is that just about every other nation grew its GDP and the Philippines flatlined under a series of corrupt dictatorships. The church still seems to insist that families barely capable of supporting one or two children will wind up with five, six or more. The contrast between the glittering wealth of the churches in every locality and the hovels around it is very instructing.
If you sail down the strait beside Cebu city, on the opposite side which is Mactan Island you will pass five or six shanty towns. There are I was told about 5,000 crude habitations which exist on stilts over the water, they have no sanitation or running water. There are many such shanty towns all over the country. In a powerful typhoon the first thing to go is the roof, all scanty possessions are lost as are many lives. It’s hard to accept that conditions like this still exist in the 21st century. The previous government declared a housing emergency but nothing will result. An Australian friend, resident in China, drew up a design for prefabricated dwellings of about 35 square metres with solar power, typhoon resistant to 300 kph, which could be built for about $12,000. I showed the plans to some local politicians and they expressed interest, I even showed them how to apply for funding from China, but I heard no more. I made a fatal mistake—I forgot to offer them their cut. The prototype has now been shipped to Australia for tourism purposes.
There was a glimmer of light a while ago when the Philippines joined a group of 15 nations to form the RCEP, a trading organization centered on China which will be the biggest such body in the world with about 30% of its population and GDP. The Philippines finally signed up last month, but this episode with the US military is not going to encourage further Chinese investment such as the Subic-Clark railway.
Well back to the forthcoming US occupation. It isn’t hard to predict the locations of these bases. Some will be close to the point nearest to Taiwan on Luzon, another one or two on Palawan. I am not familiar with the far north of Luzon, but the object in going to Palawan will be not so much to anticipate future typhoon disasters, the most recent of which occurred during Christmas 2021, but to face the Spratlys, about 300 km off the western coast. They will want a deep sheltered harbour, there are a few to choose from, I fear the San Vicente/Port Barton area, perhaps the nearest point, will appeal and be the venue for their forthcoming beach landing exercises. As you may have gathered, it is for me something of a home from home. I will coincidentally be there again in April and may have a ringside seat. Meanwhile, I wonder if that redundant monument at Subic Bay will be discreetly removed.

Posted by: Walt | Mar 28 2023 1:09 utc | 217

Deplorable Commissar – You really can’t take too much stock in them Ukie videos going around. Most of the time, I find out later they are just reusing RF vids and placing Ukraine logo/flags on it and overdubbing it. These kinda videos are all over Ukie Twitter and if even half of them were real, there’s no way that the Russians would have made the gains they have made. Pure psy-ops.

Posted by: LGB! | Mar 28 2023 1:28 utc | 219

I’ve a notion that, come Thursday 29th this week when the Nazi SBU and its President move in to forceably remove the Lavra Priests that the Ukr citizens may well spark into life and some protests will take place against the Govt. In not much time, whether citizens errupt or not, it will spell disaster for Ukraine as a Country.
Zelensky will answer to a Divine vengeance and it will be brutal. Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord and it will be.
I hope the Ukrs become more French over this and get out there & bring down their Nazi Dictatorship.

Posted by: Jo Dominich | Mar 28 2023 1:54 utc | 221

Walt | Mar 28 2023 1:09 utc | 217
Am interested in the pre-fab structures you mention.
Is there a link?
Or an Australian contact?
Thanks

Posted by: Melaleuca | Mar 28 2023 2:06 utc | 223

Posted by: Melaleuca | Mar 28 2023 2:06 utc | 223
He’s given me his number for you, he’s ok with that.
He’s in a remote area and may not be contactable before 30/3 evening local time.
+61 4199 42046

Posted by: Walt | Mar 28 2023 3:49 utc | 225

@David Levin
We have beaten off the attempt to pirate our trademark in China.

Posted by: Walt | Mar 28 2023 4:41 utc | 227

Reuters has a posting up with the title
‘We are all Chinese’, former Taiwan president says while visiting China
The quote

NANJING, China, March 28 (Reuters) – People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are ethnically Chinese and share the same ancestor, former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said on Tuesday at the start of a historic visit to China that Taiwan’s ruling party has criticised.
Ma, in office from 2008-2016, is the first former or current Taiwanese president to visit China since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of a civil war with the Communists.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 28 2023 5:40 utc | 229

Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 26 2023 16:30 utc | 23
How much are you investing in renewable energy? Curious.
Interesting that you don’t see Biden’s energy policy as “an evil socialist conspiracy* to plunder our poor rich people” “Lmao”
*”But America’s victory over the Soviet Union meant a victory of the free market, not a victory of socialism!” – Vikichka, a few days ago

Posted by: Colin | Mar 28 2023 8:35 utc | 231

Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 26 2023 20:08 utc | 75
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1466-822x.2002.00294.x
We estimate that climate change, as simulated by global climate models, will expand cropland suitability by an additional 16%, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere high latitudes.
Posted by: Colin | Mar 28 2023 8:42 utc | 232
Yep, that is one of the things driving all this stupid. Having exhausted your own resources with greedy exploitation and “entertainment”, one soon thinks of ones neighbors stuff too.
And these are the clowns that want to run things for everybody.

Posted by: Bemildred | Mar 28 2023 10:48 utc | 233

too scents @228 wrote: “CoCo bonds are moral hazard, what was called a “Greenspan Put” in earlier days.”
I’m pretty sure you don’t know what any of that means. Most importantly, you have no clue what money is or where it comes from.
Hyman Minsky famously said that “anybody can create money, the problem is getting others to accept it.”
The US Constitution gives the govt the power to create money and regulate the value thereof. The US govt delegates money creation authority to banks, that makes banks special entities that are by law supposed to be working for the people. As such, banks should not be participating in gambling and selling lottery tickets because that is a horrible way to regulate the value of money. If you want to gamble with your money there are ample other places for you to do that without going to a bank to do your gambling.
All monies deposited with a govt regulated deposit institution should be 100% backed by the govt. Nobody should be ever making assumptions (i.e. guesses) about the value of money that is held for them in a bank.
too scents also wrote: “Their value rests upon the implicit assumption, like you believe, that when things go bad they will be bailed out.”
_______________________________________________________
That is not my assumption that is your assumption. My assumption is that should 100% be prevented from ever occurring. When it happens the govt fully understands that govt has the job of regulating the value money and not allowing it to collapse or go haywire. What gets left out of the discussion is that the govt has failed to put in place the means to prevent it from ever happening. in the first place
So when the SHTF the govt steps in and does what it should have been doing all along, and that is guarantee bank deposits. The current system exists because it benefits the wealthy at the expense of everyone else and because the wealthy keep everyone else in the dark about what needs to be done to prevent it from happening. And it will continue to happen periodically as long as it benefits the wealthy.
Paul McCulley is the person who coined the phrase “shadow banks”. Here he explains why shadow banks exist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCfhaPT_71k&t=436s

Posted by: jinn | Mar 28 2023 14:17 utc | 235

Posted by: bevin | Mar 26 2023 22:25 utc | 105
It’s interesting that the trolls even hysterically refuse to acknowledge that “mass-mobilized soldiers are grossly undertrained” and “the *existence* of well-trained soldiers in a given battlefield” can apparently coexist.
Obviously, mass conscription led to a significant drop in the percentage of trained soldiers, as Hitler did in 1945, but that doesn’t mean that the number of trained soldiers dropped to zero altogether.
Likewise, the existence of well-trained soldiers does not mean that there is no mass conscription that scrapes the bottom of the barrel.
Not to mention the obvious existence of mercenaries in the Ukrainian army, so even if the number of trained Ukrainian soldiers literally equaled 0, it would not be without at least *the* existence of trained soldiers.
The funny thing is that even though the WSJ of the War Party had to admit this part of the truth, the trolls still call their nonsense “breaking the echo chamber”.
This is indeed pathetic.

Posted by: Colin | Mar 28 2023 15:22 utc | 237

There are still people pretending that “echo chambers are bad” isn’t just a narrative that allows MSM propaganda to better penetrate people’s minds.
The problem here is too many trolls, not the so-called “echo chamber” that never existed.

Quite so. Nazi’s should be censored, not given an unchallenged open ‘free speech’ platform.
Old saw. 12 people in a meeting, one an open Nazi. That there is 12 Nazi’s in a meeting.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 28 2023 15:30 utc | 239

The Cradle updates the crisis within Occupied Palestine, “Israel on fire: A legal slippery slope to national disintegration”, caused by the so-called Judicial Reforms, which the article explains for those unfamiliar. Here’s a description of the powder keg:

Despite internal strife among coalition members – with some senior officials threatening to resign if the prime minister presses pause on the reforms – the freeze was announced on Monday evening, delaying the overhaul plan until the next Knesset session in May.
Netanyahu’s refusal to scrap his divisive plan has devolved into mass strikes within the public and private sectors, school shutdowns, the closing of Haifa port, the grounding of flights at Ben Gurion airport, further large-scale street protests, and now, calls for counterprotests from far-right groups that back the coalition’s plans.
As tens of thousands rallied against the judicial reforms outside Israel’s Knesset, “religious Zionist” rabbis called on the government to move forward with its plans, according to Israel’s Army Radio.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the government’s most visible right-wing extremist, also rallied his radical supporters to take to the streets, saying on Monday: “Today we will stop our silence.”

The freeze will not stop the confrontations as tempers/tensions are already too high. And many being Army reservists are armed. The Arc of Resistance must surely be smiling.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 28 2023 17:29 utc | 241

As expected, the Global Times editor rips Biden’s Democracy Summit 2.0, “‘Summit for Democracy’ needs to write a prescription for the US most”. This version is mostly virtual via video, which seems quite apt. A portion:

Data shows that there have been over 100 mass shootings in the US so far this year, breaking a 10-year record. When many American families are living in a “nightmare,” Washington’s peddling of “American-style democracy” appears to be cruel and hypocritical. Against this backdrop, the “Summit for Democracy” appears even more pallid, resembling “the Emperor’s New Clothes.”
Interestingly, even many American media outlets have cried out “the emperor has no clothes.” Take a look at the headlines of several US media articles on Monday: “Why is Biden doing another pointless Summit for Democracy?” “What can be salvaged from Biden’s Democracy Summit,” “The US doesn’t need another democracy summit” and so on. These articles pointed out that the organization and decision-making process of the summit was chaotic, opaque, and lacking in inclusivity, and that there have been constant controversies over the selection of participants. These suspicions, criticisms and denials from within the US about the “Summit for Democracy” reflect the severity of the internal divisions in the country and expose the true colors of the summit.
Both the motives and outcomes of the so-called “Summit for Democracy” are anti-democratic, and it completely serves the diplomatic and geopolitical interests of the US. By drawing ideological lines and using the standards set by the US, it divides the international community into the so-called “democratic and non-democratic camps,” and creates division and confrontation in a world that urgently needs unity and cooperation. Reports on the summit have generally emphasized that it is aimed at dealing with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and China’s rise. It is not surprising that it will once again become a propaganda event for Washington to persuade other countries to cooperate with its “competition” strategy. Such a face is not only ugly but also somewhat sinister.
The US has been touting that the essence of its political democracy is “freedom,” “diversity,” and “inclusiveness,” but the “Summit for Democracy” has become a sharp satire of these values: Washington shuts its door and sets a single standard for democracy, not allowing questioning and discussion, and cannot tolerate the existence of other democracies that differ from American-style democracy.
Despite receiving a lot of criticism, Washington still convenes the “Summit for Democracy” again in a high-profile manner. Its purpose is to gain the power to define “democratic countries” and then use that power for its own benefits. This is an insult and a blasphemy to the spirit of democracy.
Under the impact of one round after another of extreme events such as frequent shootings, severe racial discrimination, rampant money politics, and the Capitol riots, the idol of “American-style democracy” has been riddled with wounds and it’s on the brink of collapse. It lost its appeal to the world long ago. Some countries still attend this summit, but they do not necessarily endorse American democratic values, most of whom have different pursuits of interests. Even in the venue of the summit, most attendees believe that there is no single formula or model for democracy, and each country has its own political culture and democratic needs, which is essentially consistent with China’s long-held position and is, in fact, a rejection of America’s “democracy preaching.”

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 28 2023 20:09 utc | 243

Interesting report, kf, thanks, though I must say:
May they please let the Moon’s water Rest in Peace!!
Meanwhile via the scorned (by some here) PCR site, a little piece on some of Tucker’s recent reporting which is extraordinary of late. He is most likely a CIA plant and gatekeeper but now has to cover so much non PTB friendly stuff because the alternative press has let too much Troof leak out there and he has to make it seem part of acceptable reality somehow. Even so, it’s encouraging to see. For example about Nixon, somebody whom as a schoolboy growing up in England I was only vaguely aware of. When I moved to America later I don’t think I ever met anyone then or since who thinks anything other than that the man was an uncouth low life. (Much like so many feel about Trump today – who similarly got a huge number of votes second time around but was allegedly beaten by a crook in a basement!)
And yet here it is in simple black and white how he was totally set up and lied about. Of course, it won’t change anything. There seems to be some God of Narrative at work in the West. No matter what comes out when, the Narrative Set by Those on High never changes…
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/01/20/tucker_carlson_the_cia_removed_nixon_the_most_popular_president_ever_to_cover_up_their_murder_of_jfk.html/

Wasn’t he despised by all decent people? No, he wasn’t. In fact, if any president could claim to be the people’s choice, it was Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon was re-elected in 1972 by the largest margin of the popular vote ever recorded before or since. Nixon got 17 million more votes than his opponent. Less than two years later, he was gone. He was forced to resign and in his place, an obedient servant of the federal agencies called Gerald Ford took over the White House.
How did that happen? Well, it’s a long story, but here are the highlights and they tell you a lot. Richard Nixon believes that elements in the federal bureaucracy were working to undermine the American system of government and had been doing that for a long time. He often said that. He was absolutely right. On June 23, 1972, Nixon met with the then–CIA director, Richard Helms, at the White House. During the conversation, which thankfully was tape-recorded, Nixon suggested he knew “who shot John,” meaning President John F. Kennedy. Nixon further implied that the CIA was directly involved in Kennedy’s assassination, which we now know it was. Helms’s telling response? Total silence, but for Nixon, it didn’t matter because it was already over. Four days before, on June 19, The Washington Post had published the first of many stories about a break-in at the Watergate office building.

This may not be of interest to those who don’t care about the US etc but it is a good example of just how far from reality most press coverage is – as b keeps exposing one article at a time in real-time which is extraordinary. But there are many Big Lies that many still hold to, of course without knowing.
Like Pearl Harbour being a surprise attack. And so on ad infinitum…

Posted by: Scorpion | Mar 28 2023 21:29 utc | 245

karlof1 @ 242
Something seriously upbeat for once. I was wondering how Ma’s trip turned out, thanks.
I always thought of the KMT as baddies, lots of people I thought of as baddies are proving not so. Not that they are virtuous or that I was much mistaken, just that the empire in the spasms of collapse has gone totally off the the deep end. Not hard to look good relative to that.
Garland Nixon crediting Mercouris had an interesting youtube connecting the dots to an Israeli color revolution in the works, IOW there’s more, much more, than meets the eye. Seems empire right hand man, if not brother in arms, Netanyahu, asserted himself a bit too much refusing to break off relations with Russia and not sending arms to Ukraine. Even the USA’s best pals and most faithful, most trusted, honored vassals have only to shirk one single order from the Emperor, even a senile one, and it’s off with their head.
Biden Goes After Matt Taibbi – Israel Protests – Neocons Take Another “L” In The Middle East
I would say that the USA has not one single friend or ally that isn’t at its side due to corruption, compromise, coercion, or abject fear. Even on the brutal geopolitical chessboard it’s not a recipe for success.
So, now I’m supposed to feel bad for Netanyahu? My head hurts, I definitely need to go cold turkey on the news for a while.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Mar 28 2023 22:09 utc | 247

bevin @248–
Thanks for that revealing item, which undercounted the devastation do to its limited geographical coverage. Clearly, Enclosure of a different sort but by the same Class.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 28 2023 23:27 utc | 249

I’ve been made aware that the Internet Archive is being attacked by four publishing houses that are deeply involved in Cancel Culture efforts to censor and alter the content of books for “political correctness” and to repackage history–Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley, and Penguin Random House. The nature of their attack is a lawsuit “that threatens its Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) program.
“The Internet Archive is a nonprofit digital library, preserving and providing access to cultural artifacts of all kinds in electronic form. CDL allows people to check out digital copies of books for two weeks or less, and only permits patrons to check out as many copies as the Archive and its partner libraries physically own. That means that if the Archive and its partner libraries have only one copy of a book, then only one patron can borrow it at a time, just like any other library. Through CDL, the Internet Archive is helping to foster research and learning by helping its patrons access books and by keeping books in circulation when their publishers have lost interest in them.”
Here’s the webpage that further describes what’s happening. What many barflies know as The Wayback Machine is one part of The Archive’s operations, and many will have discovered it via my linking to books I’ve cited in my commentary. The Archive is 100% Non-profit and depends on users donations. Although EFF is representing The Archive, its legal expenses will take away from its ability to operate and expand. The Archive’s enemies are not the public’s friends. This RT article explains the rewriting issue, “Agatha Christie novels chopped by ‘sensitivity readers’”. Hachette is a French operation, “a subsidiary of French media giant the Lagardère Group,” while Wiley is an “American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials.” I assume the other two are well known.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 28 2023 23:52 utc | 251

Hello b
That CONgress hearing of Tiktok CEO was nuthin of the sort, its a veritable garden variety kangaroo court, where CONgress critters grilled the man like he’s some gawd damned murderer.
Many have already lampooned the ignorance and arrogance of the CONcritters.
But what stand out for me is the sheer hypocrisy, the bullshit meter practically explodes for that one.
Firstly, thats not a hearing, Chew hardly had a chance to reply before he’s cut off and bombarded with more tirade.
He is already presumed guilty ,
typical justice…gringo style

Otoh,
USAss is the ceritified world class snooper.
IN particular, against China.
These we know as facts…
FUKUSA bugged Chinese embassy in Oz to such an extent the Chinese had to give it up and built a new one, with workers brought in from China.
The presidential 737 jet sold to China was so ridden with bugs, including the toilets, the Chinese had to ditch that one as well
Wonder if China was compensated for the above at all. ?
We know,
NSA hacked into Huawei network in China , ostensibly to look for evidence of spyware [sic]
Tip of an iceberg.
Few months back , China accused USAss of cyber attack on its premium research facilities.
Well , I believe them.
This wouldnd be the first time or last. [1]
Decades of observation spawn the golden rule of empire watch...
When the [five liars] accuse China of something,
Assume the Chinese innocent ..
When the Chinese accuse USAss of something,
Presume the gringo guilty until proven innocent.
Works like a charm every time.
My verdict of this hearing…
Classic pirates crying robbery,
ITS THE garden’s way of life.
[1]
Everyday we are bombarded with pirates crying robbery.
How often we gotta hear the other side’s story ?
https://tinyurl.com/vsbs6z86
[2]
Fake tree branch as listening device ,!

When it comes to spying, U.S. is as insatiable as China

[sic]
Insatiable !
Why cant these rats speak for themselves just for once,. ?
https://fas.org/irp/news/1999/06/990602-275397.htm

Posted by: denk | Mar 29 2023 4:56 utc | 253

Tell me what you agreed with about me being disrespectful and maybe I’ll be able to address it.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 29 2023 10:48 utc | 277 (Burden of Blogging thread)
I agreed that your lengthy post (Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 29 2023 3:54 utc | 240) should not have been posted on that thread.
I had no objection to your suggestion as stated in your first paragraph but the inclusion of a page and a half of code that
probably less than 1% of the readership has any clue about whatsoever was a distraction from the spirit of empathy with b.
I too felt it didn’t belong there. That’s all.
If you feel it did belong then we just disagree and it would have been fine to leave it there.
Subsequently, I found your response to psychohistorian to be way over the top. That’s my opinion and ph can respond
if he will. I found it way over the top because you could simply have asked him why he thought it was disrepectful. But
you chose an angry road. And btw, I don’t buy your claim that people get upset at a few curse words. Nobody gives a fuck
these days if you use the word fuck, but when you open your response with ‘Go fuck yourself’, well, maybe that’s not the best
way to have a dialog.
That brings me to your response to me about agreeing with psychohistorian. Again you could have just asked me what I was
agreeing with and why. But you chose to accuse me of sockpuppettering and you said to me “you’re as disruptive and useless
as those you pretend to call out”. And later you say I’m like a hall-monitor when all I had done was write an open letter to
some of you who were carrying on and on with the Vikichka thing, asking politely to consider whether you should continue with
that or not. (To your credit you stopped while Hermit and Colin continued, to no avail as the Vikichka went on to insult Juliania
as well as the entire bar.)
TQC, I think you are guilty of over reacting to a very mild criticism and it’s not you who is owed an apology.
As Mark2 has said we are all here – in this bar, we should be able to work it out.
Peace to all, even Texans 🙂

Posted by: waynorinorway | Mar 29 2023 13:38 utc | 255

What’s in it for France?
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/international/china-completes-first-yuan-settled-lng-trade

Posted by: too scents | Mar 29 2023 14:01 utc | 257

According to a (most certainly totally impartial) report from Canada’s CBC The National, the police violence in France is happening after the peaceful protests organized by unions, and is being provoked.
https://youtu.be/p0TC0jtxRWI

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Mar 29 2023 14:58 utc | 259

One further comment to my @260
I believe the Inflation Reduction Act may have stirred a response.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Mar 29 2023 16:13 utc | 261

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published another paper extremely critical about the Outlaw US Empire human rights record–in other words, the truth was told and published. Unfortunately, I’ve only been able to find it in Chinese at the MFA’s website, “The truth about the arbitrary detention carried out by the United States at home and abroad”. Here’s the last of its four sections:

Fourth, the reasons for the proliferation of arbitrary detention in the United States
The United States has a long history of arbitrary detention and disregard for human rights, both domestically and internationally, reflecting a deep-rooted political culture of racism and violence.
◆In recent years, racial contradictions have once again become one of the main contradictions in American politics and society. On the one hand, the reason is that racism has been a persistent disease in the United States since the founding of the country, and the cultural superiority and subjectivity of white people have always led to a high degree of political, economic and cultural inequality among various races in the United States. On the other hand, with the continuous advancement of globalization and the major adjustment of the domestic demographic structure in the United States, in recent years, white Americans, especially middle- and lower-class whites, have been increasingly dissatisfied with immigrants and ethnic minorities, exacerbating the problem of racism in the United States.
◆With the rise of white supremacy in the United States, the current racial contradictions in the United States are becoming more and more acute. In recent years, there has been a large-scale minority protest movement represented by “Black Lives Matter” in the United States, and border refugee crises have been frequent. Arbitrary detention based on race brutally tramples on the basic human rights of ethnic minorities and immigrants, violates the long-standing human rights principle of “all men are created equal” and other human rights principles advocated by the United States, and not only fails to solve the problem of illegal immigration, but further tears American society apart and causes social wounds that are difficult to heal. Democracy and human rights in the United States do not belong to all Americans, only to some Americans, and the tolerance and pluralism of American society are not completely unconditional, but based on the absolute dominance of white people.
◆The fact that the United States arbitrarily detains illegal immigrants at home and sets up a large number of “black jails” and arbitrary detention cases internationally reflects the deep-rooted hegemonic thinking, unilateralist ideology and violent political culture of the United States. As long as the persistent disease of racism is not eliminated, it will be difficult for American society to truly achieve integration and equality. As long as the obsession with hegemonism and power politics does not dissipate, the United States will still tend to use violent means to solve problems internationally, and “black jails” and arbitrary detention will continue to appear.

As you read, it translates well. I believe this makes four very critical papers published by China about the immoral, illegal behavior of the Outlaw US Empire which isn’t just related to Biden but has a very long and sordid history. IMO, this is yet another action by Good Cop China shining light on what’s constantly swept under the carpet by Western governments and media.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 29 2023 21:43 utc | 263

https://www.bible.com/bible/68/2CH.7.13-14.GNT
Just goes to show our situation is neither unique nor special, but common in history.

Posted by: Passerby | Mar 29 2023 21:53 utc | 265

bevin @266–
Thanks for your reply and commentary. I always taught my students WW2 began in 1931 with Japan attacking China. Japan has a major demographic problem that will impede its ability to remilitarize.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 30 2023 0:01 utc | 267

@ bevin | Mar 29 2023 22:52 utc | 266
Japan quickly officially unconditionally surrendered to the ‘West’, lesser evil(thier perspective), due fear of imminent USSR occupation, starting Aug9’45, with the prompt annihilation of their best remaining forces, Kwangtung Army … August Storm.
Tojo Wartime cabinet was essentially contemptuous & dismissive of the nuclear bombs, as per translated, declassified Japanese Cabinet records. All the rest is propaganda myths.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 30 2023 0:55 utc | 269

Xinhuanet has a posting up with about a conversation on Tuesday between Xi and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud with the title
Xi says China ready to contribute more to Middle East peace, development
The quote

For his part, the Saudi crown prince conveyed King Salman’s greetings to Xi, and extended again his warm congratulations on Xi’s reelection as Chinese president.
The Saudi side sincerely appreciates China for its strong support for Saudi Arabia and Iran improving their relations, which has fully demonstrated China’s role as a responsible major country, said the Saudi crown prince.
China is increasingly playing an important and constructive role in regional and international affairs, which is highly appreciated by the Saudi side, he said, adding that China is an important partner of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi side attaches great importance to the development of relations with China and is willing to work with China to open up new prospects for cooperation between the two countries, he added.

“….which has fully demonstrated China’s role as a responsible major country,…”is speaking loudly to the RoW
I see empire as attempting to kill one of theses “rogue” leaders moving their countries over to the China/Russia axis

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 30 2023 5:55 utc | 271

ZH has a posting up with the title
Musk, Wozniak Call For Pause In Developing ‘More Powerful’ AI Than GPT-4
In the article there is a claim that they are wanting this so the organizations they back can catch up and I think that is obfuscation.
I think the concept of AI is totally overblown but what I think that they TPTB are freaked out about is how much this technology can be used to expose the BS and propaganda all around us….GRIN
Maybe I am wrong but will these “text tools” easily create lies and obfuscation like the paid shills of our day?
What does our Western social structure look like when logic and reason are applied to it?
Can this “text tool” create theologic support for global private finance?…..the doing God’s work part…….I don’t think so but maybe if they have a bit more time to jigger the Rules Based Order they want to project….who knows?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 30 2023 6:12 utc | 273

waynorinorway | Mar 29 2023 13:38 utc | 255
Tom Q. Collins,
I don’t want to burden the ‘Burden of Blogging’ thread with any more of this but I do want to thank
you for your post over there @Mar 30 2023 4:16 utc | 335.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Mar 30 2023 6:43 utc | 275

@ waynorinorway | Mar 30 2023 6:31 utc | 274
It’ll be the same old playbook, coups, lawfare, assassinations, dirty tricks to the max everywhere they can, while they flail about in denial & desperation. Gonna get brutal. 🙁

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 30 2023 11:50 utc | 277

Really enjoyed this 2 min report by CBC’s The National on King Charles’ visit to Berlin. (Perhaps should be viewed alongside that John Manley interview I posted @ 260)
https://youtu.be/NZCEACOB8Ek
I was thinking still about lettuce, the Caribbean and threats of nuclear warfare (not a joke really) over Canadians and their salad consumption …. So should we stop eating imported lettuce for peace? Or should we frantically eat as much imported lettuce as we can for peace (with a side of bananas)? … I think I’ll wait to hear what Mexico’s Lopez Obrador has to say on the subject. And do what he advises.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Mar 30 2023 12:45 utc | 279

https://paperswithcode.com/paper/chatgpt-outperforms-crowd-workers-for-text

ChatGPT Outperforms Crowd-Workers for Text-Annotation Tasks
Many NLP applications require manual data annotations for a variety of tasks, notably to train classifiers or evaluate the performance of unsupervised models. Depending on the size and degree of complexity, the tasks may be conducted by crowd-workers on platforms such as MTurk as well as trained annotators, such as research assistants. Using a sample of 2,382 tweets, we demonstrate that ChatGPT outperforms crowd-workers for several annotation tasks, including relevance, stance, topics, and frames detection. Specifically, the zero-shot accuracy of ChatGPT exceeds that of crowd-workers for four out of five tasks, while ChatGPT’s intercoder agreement exceeds that of both crowd-workers and trained annotators for all tasks. Moreover, the per-annotation cost of ChatGPT is less than $0.003 — about twenty times cheaper than MTurk. These results show the potential of large language models to drastically increase the efficiency of text classification.

Silver lining: cheap to have AI argue against the toxicity of depleted uranium … what will Empire shitheels do for burger & diaper money?

Posted by: anon2020 | Mar 30 2023 13:47 utc | 281

Posted by: waynorinorway | Mar 29 2023 13:38 utc | 255
It wasn’t anything even approximating “a page and a half of code” especially considering some of the regulars who chided me for it. They’re literally known for page and a half length comments. FFS, please!
I always hate “hall monitor” type stuff in comments and that’s how I still feel psychohistorian, you and others responded. Totally unnecessary. b knows my email address. We have corresponded on matters of little import to the rest of the bar. If he objected to my post with “a page and a half of code” you and psychohistorian, Outraged, et al. should trust him to his own willingness or ability say so – or just delete my comment and ban me.
Anyway I did read your later comment addressed to me. I’m sorry to have caused such a stir. But I’m definitely not happy with how thin your skin appears to be and that applies to Outraged, Psychohistorian and anyone else who chimed in to berate me.
All that having been said, yes, frankly f*ck Texas and what my home state has brought to this fake union. We can agree to disagree on the above and I’ll be a little more thoughtful about what I post in early morning moments of (unrelated to this or anything on the Internet) strife in the future.
Tom

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 31 2023 7:09 utc | 283